Pedestrian safety hot topic at transportation policy briefing

The Boston City Council Committee on Parks, Recreation and Transportation met last week to hold a transportation policy briefing that focused on pedestrian services and safety.
The meeting was focused on decreasing traffic collisions and fatalities involving pedestrians in the city. Wendy Landman, executive director for WalkBoston, said the most critical factor in pedestrian collisions is that of speed. She said that a pedestrian’s chance of survivability in a crash at 20 miles per hour (mph) is 90 percent, while at 40 mph, it’s 10 percent.
“That difference, bringing speed down from 40 mph to 20 mph, or thereabouts, is critically important to making a safe walking environment,” she said. “It’s something we’re seeing actually around the world. City planners and transportation planners are thinking very hard about transportation speed because that’s what is the most basic element of a safe walking environment.”